I'm lost. Been lurking here for couple of months learned a lot of stuff. Thanks, really. Now the problem. I am getting this "tunnel effect" and a sort of static sounding break up when I run my mic/pre-amp thru the computer. Computer is new, Asus MB (Sis), Intel 3 ghz IA64 processor (was cheaper at the time) gig 'o' ram ATI 128meg video (I forget which one) SATA drives. Demudi distro. Other possibly (and I hope explainable) weirdness: Using the onboard SIS sound card plays CD's great. When I recorded (CAD Condesor mic, Bellari pre-amp) in Ardour I got this sort of loud hum that seemed to absorb the center of the display wave. Lot's to learn. You can tell I am a newbie to recording. This is my first venture in to this realm. When I hook directly through the amp it sounds great. As soon as I try to go thru the computer I get this tunnel effect and sort of static that surrounds each word you speak through the mic. Like an overload is going on somewhere. Tried a Eidrol UA-20 and the effect was more noticable and could not make CD's play. Note that I got the same tunnel effect using a Shure mic with no pre-amp. No newcomer to NIX systems though having trouble keeping up with the configuration changes in Linux. Was easier in the begining days was more UNIX like. I do believe that the issue is in the computer. That there is some setting that I do not know about and cannot find. Another question is: When using the onboard sound card aumix is available. When using the Eidrol no mixer is available. Why? Is it because there is no mixer setting available on the Eidrol? Another point worthy of note: When I use the alsa debug on the Debgian menu and play a wav (without jack running) It sounds perfect. When I try to play a wav through jack with the same (and jack is running) I get a message that jack plumbing does not exist. It's there. Something is just not lined up right here and I just cannot find it. Thanks for your patience, James __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com